CHIMEI CMV-221D/A 22" LCD shows true 16.7 million colors?

[Piano Man]

So I'm getting ready to bite on a 22" LCD monitor, and have been eyeing the CHIMEI CMV-221D/A. I go to the product page on the website here
and find this info:

Pixel Pitch: 0.282 mm
Resolution: 1,680*1,050 WSXGA+
Display Color: 16.7 M (8 bits Hi-FRC)
Brightness: 330 cd/m2
Contrast Ratio: 800:1
Viewing Angle
Viewing Angle (Horizontal): 170°
Viewing Angle (Vertical): 160°
Scan Rate (Horizontal): 30 kHz ~ 82 kHz
Scan Rate (Vertical): 56 Hz ~ 76 Hz
Display Area: 474 mm x 296 mm
Response time: 5 ms


Now I thought that CHIMEI's were 6 bit TN panels, so I did some researching, and found this bit of info regarding 6bit and 8bit displays:


"FRC is an algorithm that can increase the colours displayed as
follows:-

6bits can display 0.26M colors
6bits + FRC can display 16.2M colors
6bits + Hi FRC can display 16.7M colors same as 8 bits

You can refer to the attachment for details.


Now I'm confused. So the CHIMEI says its 8 bit with HI FRC. Also I've been reading that 6bit + HI FRC does in fact = 16.7 million colors.

Can someone clue me into what is going on here? Is the CHIMEI 8 Bit, or 6 Bit with HI FRC. And if so, does that combo truly display 16.7 million colors?

I'm lost

 

[Piano Man]

bump for a new day.

 

[IlllI]

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=31&threadid=1958386&enterthread=y

that might shed some light on the question.

 

[Piano Man]

yea, I read that. Weird thing is that CHIMEI is saying it is 8 bit instead of 6bit with HI-FRC. Is this just a marketing gimmick? I'm probably getting the CHIMEI anyways, but was just curious.

 

[Atty]

They are all 6bit's with dithering for 8bit colors. I've got the Westinghouse variant of the 22''.

 

[n7]

The 22" Chi Mei-based displays are better than average TNs IMO, but they still have sh!tty viewing angles & poor color accuracy.

But if you're on a budget, then they are indeed likely the best TN-based option out there...

 

[Zebo]

This won't be the first time these manufactures have stretched the truth... TN its physically impossible to be 8bit, they either use dithering and/or FRC to simulate. Heck they even say FRC! PVA&IPS don't use such a thing. Believe me you sit a PVA or IPS next to it in clone and start looking at photos you certainly CAN see the difference between 262,144 colors (the REAL number of colors a 6-bit panel can do) and 16.7 million colors but standing alone a TN with good FRC will look good.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

lol i never realised that before... only 262144 colours? wow, how on earth do you go about simulating the other 16515072 colours?

 

[postmortemIA]

Originally posted by: Zebo
This won't be the first time these manufactures have stretched the truth... TN its physically impossible to be 8bit, they either use dithering and/or FRC to simulate. Heck they even say FRC! PVA&IPS don't use such a thing. Believe me you sit a PVA or IPS next to it in clone and start looking at photos you certainly CAN see the difference between 262,144 colors (the REAL number of colors a 6-bit panel can do) and 16.7 million colors but standing alone a TN with good FRC will look good.

Sound good in theory, but the one PVA panel I've tried is worse than all my TN panels in gradient tests, and colors are bit better and deeper, but nothing extraordinary. Truth is that TN panels today are in their 3rd or 4th generation, and not that bad anymore, but not terrific either. Even with PVA panels there were cases that supporting electronics was bad and not taking full potential of the panel, like some samsung 6-bit model with PVA.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
lol i never realised that before... only 262144 colours? wow, how on earth do you go about simulating the other 16515072 colours?

Well 6bit pixel is
R= 2x2x2x2x2x2
G= 2x2x2x2x2x2
B= 2x2x2x2x2x2

Resulting in 262144 colors per channel.

Two ways to claim to get to 16.7m.

Dithering, which combines adjacent pixels to simulate the desired shade but makes all pixels look larger and visable resulting in a heavy pixelated look. Sometimes huge squares can result up to 1cm square.

Frame Rate Control , FRC, which quickly cycles pixels over time to simulate a given shade.This method is better but it's still noticeable to many resulting in flicker and darker shades than supposed to be due to poor response time times of LCDs..

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: postmortemIA

Originally posted by: Zebo
This won't be the first time these manufactures have stretched the truth... TN its physically impossible to be 8bit, they either use dithering and/or FRC to simulate. Heck they even say FRC! PVA&IPS don't use such a thing. Believe me you sit a PVA or IPS next to it in clone and start looking at photos you certainly CAN see the difference between 262,144 colors (the REAL number of colors a 6-bit panel can do) and 16.7 million colors but standing alone a TN with good FRC will look good.

Sound good in theory, but the one PVA panel I've tried is worse than all my TN panels in gradient tests, and colors are bit better and deeper, but nothing extraordinary. Truth is that TN panels today are in their 3rd or 4th generation, and not that bad anymore, but not terrific either. Even with PVA panels there were cases that supporting electronics was bad and not taking full potential of the panel, like some samsung 6-bit model with PVA.

What panels are you comparing it to? Model # please. I don't believe they are TN since you thought your 24" gateway you returned was IPS maybe you are mistaken again? With that said PVA has some serious weaknesses (poor response/color shift) but banding shouldn't be one of them unless electronics are faulty or designed improperly inside.

 

[postmortemIA]

970P Samsung is known 6-bit PVA panel.

Yes, I'm talking about that Gateway 24"; it is PVA I made an error in typing, I know it is PVA and suspect is it same screen as Dell's 2407, and it has bad electronics like you say, and I agree. However Dell's 2407 suffered from same banding issue as well.

And my models are 204B, 930B, 172N (All samsung TN's) and laptop's Samsung WSXGA+ screen.